Shakeup at 'ESPN' Mag

There’s been another big shakeup at ESPN: vp, publishing director Steven Binder has mysteriously left after six years in the position.

ESPN confirmed Binder's exit but declined to comment on the reason for his departure or say if he's been replaced. The change at the top comes as the magazine is trying to figure out its future in a 24-hour news cycle, however. ESPN The Magazine’s ad pages declined 11 percent to 520 in the first half of the year versus the year-ago period, per Publishers Information Bureau. Bigger rival Sports Illustrated also declined, by 6 percent to 689 ad pages in the same period.

The timing of the change is curious—there was a big corporate restructuring a year ago when John Kosner was bumped up to the new role of svp and gm of ESPN Digital Media, giving him oversight for print and digital. And at the start of the year, John Skipper, who had been running content for ESPN since 2005, was promoted to president of the Disney-owned company, replacing George Bodenheimer.

There’s been another big shakeup at ESPN: vp, publishing director Steven Binder has mysteriously left after six years in the position.

ESPN confirmed Binder's exit but declined to comment on the reason for his departure or say if he's been replaced. The change at the top comes as the magazine is trying to figure out its future in a 24-hour news cycle, however. ESPN The Magazine’s ad pages declined 11 percent to 520 in the first half of the year versus the year-ago period, per Publishers Information Bureau. Bigger rival Sports Illustrated also declined, by 6 percent to 689 ad pages in the same period.

The timing of the change is curious—there was a big corporate restructuring a year ago when John Kosner was bumped up to the new role of svp and gm of ESPN Digital Media, giving him oversight for print and digital. And at the start of the year, John Skipper, who had been running content for ESPN since 2005, was promoted to president of the Disney-owned company, replacing George Bodenheimer.